


Was It Worth It?

by AvatarAang7



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5031139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarAang7/pseuds/AvatarAang7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sozin thinks about what he left this world on his deathbed. Short one-shot for the Avatar Wiki's fanon contest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Was It Worth It?

Was it worth it?  
That is the question I ask myself. Now that I can feel the end is near, those four simple words just won't leave my head.

I have wiped out the Air Nomads, the first hurdle in spreading the wealth and prosperity of my nation over the entire world.

My army is making big waves in the Earth Kingdom, and we are even making big hits in the defenses of the Southern Water Tribe, and yet that question keeps on lingering.

I can only surmise that only time will tell. The Fire Nation is capable of winning the war, even without my guidance. My son is a capable strategist, and he takes his generals' advice when he needs to. But the other nations haven't been beaten just yet. They will fight to the end.

I didn't succeed in killing the Avatar. Even though I have no way of confirming it, I just know he survived. I can feel it in my bones. The flame burning inside of me knows that he is out there, somewhere. The last airbender.

I had to betray my lifelong friend. That was what it had cost me. Even though we haven't been on speaking terms for a long time, that night proved what we could accomplish together.

How could Roku not see what I am trying to accomplish? That I will bring peace and prosperity after a glorious battle? That if we were working together, we could have won the war by now?

But it matters not, because that one question keeps on lingering. Even now, in my last hours on this world, I don't have the answer.

Roku's warning comes back to me. He was confident a war would bring nothing but destruction, even for the Fire Nation. But if we can win, it would be worth it.

If.

I know that my time has come. The fire inside me is dying, and therefore, I am dying. As the light of that fire leaves my body, I keep thinking of the memoirs I wrote for my children.

Did I tell the full truth? That deep down, somewhere, I don't feel a twinge of regret for betraying my friend? That securing the prosperity of the world is worth it?

They will not have to live with the burden of that question. But I want them to understand. We are the most glorious nation in the history of the world, and they know it.

They understand that. But will they understand that was not why I started the war? That I betrayed my friend for the sake of the greater good? For the fate of the world?

They might not. It is them, for whom I wanted to leave a better world. For whom I betrayed Roku. The Avatar. My ally. My enemy. My friend.

Those four simple words come back to haunt me in my dying moments.

Was it worth it?


End file.
